Stabenow, Dana
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1952- ) US author now best known for a nonfantastic private-investigator series, the Kate Shugak sequence set in the author's native Alaska. Her first fiction, however, was sf: the Star Svensdotter sequence comprising Second Star (1991), A Handful of Stars (1991) and Red Planet Run (1995), which describes the fraught Near Future expansion of Homo sapiens starwards, thwarted by hidebound militarism and bureaucrats. The initial venue is a Space Habitat whose administrator, Star Svensdotter, must combat Terran obstructionism, cope with at least one mysterious visiting Alien, and prepare the habitat for forward-looking colonists. A second habitat features in the second volume; in Red Planet Run, the now-widowed Svensdotter explores unknown regions of Mars, discovering there evidence of a Forerunner species. Specific homages to Robert A Heinlein can be found throughout the trilogy. [JC]
Dana Helen Stabenow
born Anchorage, Alaska: 27 March 1952
works
series
Star Svensdotter
- Second Star (New York: Ace Books, 1991) [Star Svensdotter: pb/Martin Andrews]
- A Handful of Stars (New York: Ace Books, 1991) [Star Svensdotter: pb/David Cherry]
- Red Planet Run (New York: Ace Books, 1995) [Star Svensdotter: pb/Donato Giancola as Donato]
works as editor
- Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy (New York: Ace Books, 2004) [anth: pb/Jonathan Barkat]
- Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy (New York: Ace Books, 2008) [anth: pb/Jonathan Barkat]
links
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